Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2015 July 9

Welcome to the Wikipedia Entertainment Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

July 9

Earliest Setting of TV show on US Commercial non-cable Network TV?

After a discussion with my wife, I thought I'd ask here. What is the earliest setting for any Television show in US Commercial non-cable Network TV? The earliest we came up with was Zorro (presumably Zorro (1957 TV series)) which is set in the 1820s. This is earlier than all of the Westerns like Gunsmoke or Little House on the Prairie. We are excluding time travel shows like Voyagers!. Can anyone come up with a show set earlier in time? (I know that the British have had a number of shows set earlier in time like Blackadder) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Naraht (talk • contribs) 07:29, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

The Davy Crockett series would be contemporary. The Swamp Fox (TV series) was earlier, set in the American Revolution. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 07:51, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

In fact, there were a lot of history-inspired shows on Walt Disney anthology television series. Depending on how you want to count them, I recall a short series based on The Prince and the Pauper, which was set in the time of Henry VIII. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 07:57, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

You can get back much further than Blackadder for British shows. Rome (TV series) (broadcast in the US, but on cable) springs to mind, as does I, Claudius (TV series). Walking with dinosaurs probably wins though! Doesn't look like any of them were shown on non-cable/satellite programming in the US - though WWD made it to basic cable. MChesterMC (talk) 08:50, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

Everything on US TV that's been mentioned so far had a setting in historic times, but The Flintstones was prehistoric, and this in turn was beaten by Dinosaurs, set 60 million years in the past. --174.88.133.209 (talk) 10:40, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

The time frame for The Flintstones was a bit hard to pin down, as while they interacted with dinosaurs, they also celebrated Christmas. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 13:37, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

"They're the modern Stone Age family", so obviously the Neolithic Era. :-) --174.88.133.209 (talk) 22:53, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

There's a theory that the Flintstones came after the Jetsons, post-apocalyptic style. It's pretty convincing. InedibleHulk (talk) 03:49, 14 July 2015 (UTC)

Often yes, sometimes no. I recall one cartoon in which they came to a little stream, labeled "Grand Canyon". Wilma says, "That's the 'Grand Canyon'?" Fred says, "It's not much now, but they say it might be a big thing someday!" Both the Flintstones and the Jetsons were essentially 1950s suburbia in diverse settings. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 06:14, 14 July 2015 (UTC)

Could be that "they" remembered the old one, when thinking of its potential. Otherwise, the label makes no in-universe sense. Not impossible, but I'm not convinced. InedibleHulk (talk) 14:14, 14 July 2015 (UTC)

It's merely a joke. It makes no "in-universe" sense, but it makes sense to the audience, hence the laugh track. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:37, 14 July 2015 (UTC)

Different strokes for different folks, but not always a need for different jokes. You can hear this one as mere, I can hear it as a clue, a geologist might consider it educational, and Butt-head can go "Huh huh huh...canyon". It's why this show still works, across the planet, and That 80's Show was doomed to thirteen episodes. Bet you can't remember one! InedibleHulk (talk) 16:43, 14 July 2015 (UTC)

I wonder if young observers would understand the parody references to celebrities like "Anne Margrock" and "Cary Granite" and so on. Or the "Bedrock Twitch", which amazingly enough was introduced around the time the Twist became all the rage.[1] They might recognize Wilma and Betty's battle cry: A short version of the "cavalry charge" on a bugle followed by "Chaaaarge it!"[2] I never saw the 80s show, so there's nothing to remember. :) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:25, 14 July 2015 (UTC)

In this clip,[3] near the end, it's explicitly stated that the 1964 World's Fair is in the future. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 01:29, 15 July 2015 (UTC)

So what did they do with Rock Hudson's name ? :-) StuRat (talk) 21:57, 14 July 2015 (UTC)

I couldn't find a reference. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 01:30, 15 July 2015 (UTC)

I found a few sites, including this one about the episode titled "The Rock Quarry Story" as their version of Rock Hudson. Here is a pic from the episode. Here is a pic from a different episode. You'll notice the different hair colors. I don't know what the story is about that. Our article mentions three different names - "Rock Pile/Quarry/Hudstone" - so it looks like they had different episodes that used different names to refer to a Hudson parody character. That might be a reason for the different hair colors as well. MarnetteD|Talk 02:15, 15 July 2015 (UTC)

Maybe an asterisk for a syndicated series in the 1950s called Journey to the Beginning of Time. It involved time travel, but in a different way, as these young lads took a boat in Central Park into a mysterious tunnel whose river flowed backward through time. It didn't end at the Big Bang, but on the shore of some cosmic ocean. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 13:35, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

• And another asterisk for It's About Time. —Tamfang (talk) 22:39, 11 July 2015 (UTC)

• They missed a chance, when they went to modern New York, to have Muldoon come up to the cave man and say, "Toody! Where have you been? There's a holdup in the Bronx! Brooklyn's broken out in fights! There's a traffic jam in Harlem that's backed up to Jackson Heights!" ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:43, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

OP comments: Looks like the Disney Anthology shows are probably the best examples from the (fictionalized) Historical Past as opposed to the completely fictionalized (insane) past (Flintstones/Dinosaurs) and that Zorro is also from the Disney Anthology, just one of the larger series. OK If we exclude the Disney Anthology and only take stand alone series that were first run on Television, the earliest I can find are Bonanza and How the West was Won both of which start just before the US Civil War and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman that starts just after. Any ideas on earlier standalones?Naraht (talk) 18:09, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

Daniel Boone (TV series). Daniel Boone lived from 1734-1820, but the series seems to take part in the 1760s or 1770s, based on the presence of British in the area and his son Israel being killed in battle in 1782 but portrayed as a child in the series. (Our article says 1770s-1780s, but 1780s seems a bit late to me.) StuRat (talk) 18:44, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

I can't quite tell what criteria is being used so I will mention When Things Were Rotten. Set sometime in the Middle Ages it would predate many of the shows mentioned. Now I know it is a comedy and it was short lived but it could be thrown into the mix of answers so far. MarnetteD|Talk 19:03, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

Crusoe was set in the 17th century (c. 1651 according to the novel). Clarityfiend (talk) 00:13, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

Go back another century with The Borgias. Oops, cable. Clarityfiend (talk) 00:22, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

Ave Empire, set in 44 BC Ancient Rome. Clarityfiend (talk) 00:35, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

There was Star Wars: Ewoks (a long time ago in a galaxy far away)  :). Are we only talking about American shows, or those from Western culture? Because Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Thai TV often have series set hundreds or even thousands of years ago (e.g. King Qian in Wuyue, Taejo Wang Geon (TV series)). Also, Category:Period television series might be of interest to the OP.--William Thweatt ^TalkContribs 02:01, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

OP Comments: First of all, Star Wars: Ewoks was less realistic than Dinosaurs :) I'm interested in the US only, thus my comment about Blackadder up top. Thank you *very* much for Category:Period television series, that will help with looking a lot.

I got Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett confused and thought both were Disney, but Daniel Boone was stand alone and may be the farthest back that survived multiple seasons. Crusoe was single season but appears not to be intended that way. But Empire seemed to have been planned to be closed ended and as such is more like a miniseries, and as such similar to Masada (miniseries) which is set about a century after.

Given that I accept Crusoe and Robin Hood (in terms of When Things Were Rotten) but don't accept Flintstones and Dinosaurs, I'm going to have to figure out if I accept Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess, not only are the *way* over toward Fantasy, I think they were syndicated. (Don't remember what network they were on in the USA)

Naraht because both H and X were syndicated they showed on different networks (often local independent stations) in different cities. MarnetteD|Talk 05:16, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

It's a question of whether you accept total fiction or "historical" fiction. As regards Boone and Crockett, they are easy to confuse since Fess Parker played both. Just remember that Davy's pal was Jed Clampett, while Boone's pal was one of the Ames Brothers. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:44, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

That was Ed Ames who played Mingo. His appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson was one of the more famous bloopers in the shows history. It was shown on numerous "Best of" clip shows over the years. MarnetteD|Talk 05:13, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

Yes. And ironically enough, he actually is Jewish. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 05:27, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

Roar aired on Fox and took place in 400 AD. uhhlive (talk) 14:26, 13 July 2015 (UTC)

The best I've got, aside from the weird dino-sitcoms, is the three Conan the barbarian adaptations, two of which were in broadcast syndication and one ( Conan and the Young Warriors ) of which was on CBS. Being Conan stories, they were all set during the Hyborean Age, "between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the sons of Aryas", or somewhere around 10,000 BC. gnfnrf (talk) 02:50, 14 July 2015 (UTC)

Good memory on Roar Gnfnrf. I remember watching it. Heath Ledger was so very young. MarnetteD|Talk 02:55, 14 July 2015 (UTC)

Roar was uhhlive, not me. Though I did remember it, but didn't mention it because 1.) he already did, and 2.) Conan is earlier. Hopefully, I've fixed the formatting so our comments aren't as mushed together. gnfnrf (talk) 03:00, 14 July 2015 (UTC)

D'oh Gnfnrf thanks for straightening things out. So let me send a ping thanks to Uhhlive for remembering Roar. Cheers to everyone involved. MarnetteD|Talk 03:25, 14 July 2015 (UTC)

OP Comments: Both Roar and Conan have "magical" elements, right? Naraht (talk) 13:57, 15 July 2015 (UTC)

Roar's main antagonist was a 400 year old immortal soldier that stabbed Christ on the cross, so I would say that falls in to the realm of magical, yeah. Are you looking for period dramas? uhhlive (talk) 15:02, 15 July 2015 (UTC)

wimbledon tennis players that mess around while playing tennis

I watched a clip of a tennis match that had two pairs of tennis players basically messing around while trying to play tennis but I can't remember the names of the players & I can't find the clip again. From what I can remember, the two teams of tennis player were both men & one of them had a moustache. I can't remember more details about them than that. Can anyone help ? 80.195.85.92 (talk) 09:45, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

The guy with the moustache you're thinking of is almost certainly Mansour Bahrami. If you do a search for him on youtube you will find quite a few games in which he is messing around, like this one for example. --Viennese Waltz 09:52, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

(e/c) If it's an old clip, it's likely to be Connors and Nastase v Newcombe and Roche - here. Ghmyrtle (talk) 09:57, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

I think that Mansour Bahrami is the one i'm thinking of. 80.195.85.92 (talk) 10:03, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

Taking of Pelham 123 (Year 2009)

This discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
Although Camonetti specifically told Ryder that Garber is just a Train Dispatcher, Ryder still wanted Garber to be the Negotiator. Ryder knew that Camonetti was a Negotiator, but Ryder still wanted to talk to Garber. 1. Although Ryder was Serious about killing a Hostage, why didn't Stupid Camonetti bring Garber back immediately? It seems that Camonetti has no Remorse for Unintentionally Causing the Death of Garber's friend. 2. When does Camonetti apologize to Garber about the Hostage's death?(50.173.3.170 (talk) 11:11, 9 July 2015 (UTC)). For anyone struggling with this, see The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009 film) - Cucumber Mike (talk) 11:57, 9 July 2015 (UTC) I want Answers for my Questions. The stupid Plot Summary doesn't Help at All.(50.173.3.170 (talk) 02:39, 10 July 2015 (UTC)). Mike wasn't trying to point you to the article necessarily. He was trying to explain to everyone else reading this what you were talking about. You just started asking questions about a 6 year old film but didn't say it was a film. Dismas|(talk) 02:49, 10 July 2015 (UTC) Because Garber was under suspicion for taking a bribe, Camonetti did not trust him. Camonetti thought that Garber might somehow be involved in the hijacking by Ryder, even though Garber insisted he wasn't. Camonetti never apologizes.    → Michael J Ⓣ Ⓒ Ⓜ 04:05, 10 July 2015 (UTC) A check of the IPs 50.173.3.170 (talk · contribs) edit history shows that they have been asking about plot points in shows and films for months now. Some of them were removed in the past and a check of the edit that was made based on the posts here kinda show why. If you want to reply to them that is not a problem as such but it will be worth checking to see what they do with that info. MarnetteD|Talk 05:27, 10 July 2015 (UTC) Thank you, @MarnetteD. I was unaware of that.    → Michael J Ⓣ Ⓒ Ⓜ 05:52, 10 July 2015 (UTC) After Garber confesses to the Bribe, Garber talks to his Wife, but then Camonetti comes to Apologize now but Why?(50.173.3.170 (talk) 01:51, 11 July 2015 (UTC)).